The Groaning Board

plump shoulders, was
taking down the messages that had piled up on the answering machine over the
holiday.
    She looked up when Wetzon came in.
“Good morning. I’m sorry about your friend. Smith told me all about it. It must
have been awful. If I can do anything—”
    “Thanks, Darlene.” The woman really
grated on her nerves. It was all she could do not to tell her to shut up. God,
she thought, I am definitely turning into a curmudgeon. “I appreciate the
offer. Anything important?”
    “I have to sort through them—”
    “Is that you?” Smith screamed from
upstairs. “Get right up here!”
    “Okay, okay.” Wetzon looked
quizzically at Darlene, who shrugged.
    “I don’t know,” Darlene whispered.
“She was here when I came in and she’s been like that—”
    The doorbell buzzed.
    “Wetzon!”
    “I’m coming!” She started up the
stairs.
    At the door Darlene signed for two
white florist boxes. “They’re for you, Wetzon,” she called.
    Wetzon came back down. Flowers. She
undid the bow on the first box. Elegant long-stemmed red roses. God. The
smaller box held a vase full of violets.
    “They’re beautiful,” Darlene said.
“Do you want me to put the roses in water?”
    “Would you?”
    “Wetzon!”
    “There’s no card,” Darlene said.
    “I know who sent them.” Wetzon
climbed the stairs and stepped into the grand new Smith and Wetzon private
office.
    “I can’t believe you dillydallied all
this time,” Smith said.
    “For godsakes, Smith, it’s not even
nine o’clock. What’s with you? What’s the crisis?”
    “When did I say it was a crisis? It’s
not a crisis.” Smith became eerily calm. “So to speak. You’ve got to hear...“ •
this...” She paused for dramatic effect, then strolled over to Wetzon’s desk
and picked up Wetzon’s private line. “Listen to this. It’s on your voice mail,
along with another call from your perverted breather friend.”
    “My voice mail? Let me get this
straight. You were eavesdropping on my private—”
    “Oh, for pity sakes, will you shut up
and listen.” She held the phone to Wetzon’s ear.
    With an angry thump, Wetzon set her
briefcase and handbag on the floor. She grabbed the phone, pissed that Smith
had invaded her privacy once more. Heavy breathing came across the line.
“Smith—dammit—” Wetzon shook the receiver at Smith. “You have no business—”
    “ Leslie, where are you? ” Wetzon almost dropped the phone. It
was Micklynn’s voice, smudged and dull with booze.
    Aghast, Wetzon looked at Smith, who
stood with her arms folded, smug. “What did I tell you?”
    “Thoughtyou’dbehome.“ Micklynn’s words ran into each
other. She broke off into a fit of coughing. “... Knowexactlywhathappened...
why. Wantyata help me set up...“
    The line went dead.

Chapter Forty-Six

     
     
     
    “Good God,
Smith, Micklynn must have called me here instead of home last Thursday.”
    “Set what up? She knew something.
Yes, she did.”
    “And what she knew got her
murdered... and none of this means a damn thing.”
    “How can you say that? You heard
her.”
    “We don’t know what it was she found
out, do we?” Smith frowned. “It obviously had to do with that Sheila person’s
murder we were investigating for her.”
    “We? Oh, I get it. Of course. That’s
why you listened to my voice mail.”
    “Sarcasm doesn’t become you, sweetie
pie,” Smith said severely.
    “You have no shame, you know that?
How would you like it if I listened to your—”
    “Oh, pu-leeze, sugar. I have to know
what’s going on in your life and you have to know the same about mine. It’s how
to succeed in business.”
    “I would never listen to your private
voice messages.“
    “That’s why you need me as your
partner, Ms. Holier Than Thou,” She smirked. “Because I have no shame.”
    “Truer words have ne’er been spoken.
I guess we should call Silvestri. Is there coffee?”
    “Of course there’s coffee,” Smith
said. “And bagels.” She followed Wetzon into the kitchen and watched as Wetzon
filled her mug. “Ummmm... I have an interesting suggestion.”
    “No doubt.”
    “Trust me on this, sugar.”
    Wetzon raised an eyebrow. “Let’s hear
it.” After relative quiet, the phones all began ringing at once. Wetzon sat
down at her desk and watched the blinking lights as Darlene fielded the calls.
    Smith paid no attention. She was
pacing the long room. “Listen to me. Micklynn said she had the proof. What do
you